- Published on November 3, 2025
- In Global Tech
The Heavy Price of Free AI in India
“The main risk is that we might end up relying too heavily on Western tech companies that distribute their products in India.”
Image by Nalini Nirad
- By Siddharth Jindal
India has become the latest battleground in the global AI race, with Big Tech companies vying for dominance by giving their most powerful tools away for free. OpenAI is offering a year of complimentary access to ChatGPT Go, Perplexity AI has partnered with Airtel to roll out free Perplexity Pro subscriptions, and now Google has joined the fray with its most expansive AI bundle yet for Jio users.
The search giant recently announced a strategic partnership with Reliance Intelligence to offer its AI Pro plan—featuring the latest Gemini 2.5 Pro model—to Jio Unlimited 5G users at no additional cost for 18 months. The rollout will begin with users aged 18 to 25 before expanding nationwide to all eligible Jio subscribers. Users can activate the offer directly through the MyJio app.
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Siddharth Jindal
Siddharth is a media graduate who loves to explore tech through journalism and putting forward ideas worth pondering about in the era of artificial intelligence.
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